I need a better Venetian stack

[TinCow]

The Venetian Archers are fabulous. Not only do they have ranged capabilities comparable to Longbows, they have very decent melee abilities. They will beat anything below the dismounted knight level of infantry in melee. This makes them particularly good at defending cities and castles, since they can repel ladders and towers as well as shoot.

[katank]

Xbows don't shoot as fast. Thus, Venetian archers can kill enemy units faster. Once they fix the passive AI, xbows will not get ability to expend all their ammo.

There is indeed no "best" stack. I assume this is for SP. If so, then exploit the passive AI all you want and load up on Xbows and Venetian archers. Throwing in a piece of siege might also be good. Then add in 4-6 units of heavy cav to break up the lines and rout chase. That's for a general AI stack.

Some bread and butter units are Italian spear militia and Venetian Heavy Inf for anti-cav and anti-armor respectively. Carraccio standard is likely a waste unless you have tons of militia units.

Note that catapults are a must for bridge defense as they can shred enemy troops on the bridge.

[Musashi]

Xbows don't shoot as fast. Thus, Venetian archers can kill enemy units faster. Once they fix the passive AI, xbows will not get ability to expend all their ammo.

There is indeed no "best" stack. I assume this is for SP. If so, then exploit the passive AI all you want and load up on Xbows and Venetian archers. Throwing in a piece of siege might also be good. Then add in 4-6 units of heavy cav to break up the lines and rout chase. That's for a general AI stack.

Some bread and butter units are Italian spear militia and Venetian Heavy Inf for anti-cav and anti-armor respectively. Carraccio standard is likely a waste unless you have tons of militia units.

Note that catapults are a must for bridge defense as they can shred enemy troops on the bridge.

My Crossbowmen get to expend their ammo almost every time, even when the enemy charges. I just don't cease firing when they engage my front line

[andrewt]

If it's campaign, venetian heavy is a lot cheaper to maintain than dismounted feudal knights, so I barely use any dismounted feudal knights.

[sapi]

Personally i'd either drop most of the cavalry or all of the infantry.

I find that mixed armies often suffer from being the jack of all trades and the master of none, so it's sometimes easier to have both an all infantry (+ the general) and an all cavalry army operating at the same time; you can use either one as the situation demands...

[monkian]

Personally i'd either drop most of the cavalry or all of the infantry.

I find that mixed armies often suffer from being the jack of all trades and the master of none, so it's sometimes easier to have both an all infantry (+ the general) and an all cavalry army operating at the same time; you can use either one as the situation demands...

You NEED to have a mixture - i.e a couple of cav units at the very least.

[sapi]

You NEED to have a mixture - i.e a couple of cav units at the very least.

Yeh - i generally have the general and one cavalry unit (or, later in teh campaign, two generals)

With the Venetians I have used lots of militia units. The Carrico standard has helped hold their morale. I have also had them drop the standard and fight. They are pretty good IMO. My Carrico standard in my main army has a silver chevron from their various battles and have over time only lost a total of three men. Some of these battles against Milan have been brutal with the dead stinking in the sun. But the Carico standard has stood over the piles of the slain.

On a similar note, the holy cross (for crusading armies) is the only unit i've seen which can stand up to a mongol charge

[Musashi]

You NEED to have a mixture - i.e a couple of cav units at the very least.

I disagree. Pure infantry armies can work beautifully. You just have to accept that you can't pursue routers very well.

[Von Nanega]

Carraccio standard is likely a waste unless you have tons of militia units.

With the Venetians I have used lots of militia units. The Carrico standard has helped hold their morale. I have also had them drop the standard and fight. They are pretty good IMO. My Carrico standard in my main army has a silver chevron from their various battles and have over time only lost a total of three men. Some of these battles against Milan have been brutal with the dead stinking in the sun. But the Carico standard has stood over the piles of the slain.